Still
by Missus Carlikins
Summary: All moments lead to something. [Bixanna; Modern AU]
1. still with eyes meeting

**Notes:** I find myself shipping this and when I ship something I write AUs. This will probably be no more than a two-shot, we'll see how I stand after writing part two.

Sorry in advance for OOCness and whatnot. I did try to edit, but I'm sure I missed stuff.

Also the titles are from _Still_ by Daughter, a song that has nothing to do with this fic. I just happened to be listening to it when I was trying to come up with a title.

* * *

_still with eyes meeting_

...

After living together for the past five years Bixlow had gotten used to Evergreen and her antics. So when he heard the knock on the door and the sound of her racing down the hall, he didn't even bother looking up from his game. But then she was standing in front of him, blocking his view of the TV with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face. He quickly paused so he wouldn't get killed and stared up at her.

"What?"

"Get out."

"Why?"

She huffed and grabbed his hand, trying to yank him to his feet, but he wasn't going anywhere until he beat the game.

"You need to leave," she insisted, tugging harder. He just crossed his arms over his chest and arched a brow.

"Why?" he repeated. Another knock came from the door and he glanced at it. "Aren't you going to get that?"

"I can't answer it until you _leave_," she hissed, giving one last tug before she released him and glared, her hands returning to her hips. "On the other side of that door is my boyfriend and he doesn't know that I currently live with three guys and I don't _want_ him to know yet."

"Then how am I supposed to leave if he's at the door?"

"Use the window."

He sighed but got to his feet, placing his controller on the coffee table.

"Don't turn off the game."

"I won't. Now go."

She shooed him towards the window and he sighed again, sliding it open and throwing his leg over the edge.

"I still think you should dump this dude," he muttered, and Ever glared, shoving him out the window, not seeming to care that they were three stories up. He landed on his feet and grinned up at her. "Don't be too loud! We don't want another complaint from the neighbors!"

Evergreen held up her finger in a very unladylike gesture and slammed the window shut, and Bixlow laughed, turning on his heel to stroll down the street. He whistled as he walked, stretching his hands above his head and glaring slightly at the sun.

It would probably be at least two hours before he would be allowed back in the apartment, which meant he had to find something to do. He knew he could always go to Fairy Tail, but the bar was boring during the day. He could visit Freed at work … but last time he'd done that he'd gotten a knife thrown at his head. And Laxus was completely out of the question. He didn't even know where that roommate was.

His lips twisted in a frown and he glanced around. Maybe he'd go see what the cosplay queen was doing; visiting her was never boring …

He noticed the moving truck first. It was hard _not_ to since it took up at least half the street, and then he noticed the people. They were clearly siblings … or part of some gang that required you to dye your hair white. Two girls and one guy.

The guy was huge, bigger than huge. He was gigantic, and Bixlow had to wonder just what he'd done to get that big. His sisters were smaller, although the one with the long hair had quite the chest on her. He nodded in approval, his gaze flicking to the smallest and freezing.

She was cute.

She made him think of a kitten, all small and innocent looking. But it was obvious in the way she moved that she had some claws on her.

Then she looked up and he found himself drowning.

He didn't think he'd ever seen eyes that blue.

Before he knew it he was crossing the street and standing in front of her. The siblings both stared at him, the woman holding the man back with a hand on his shoulder, but he barely noticed them. All of his attention was focused on the girl with the too blue eyes.

"I saw all those boxes and thought you might need a hand," he said.

"That's a very kind offer, but you know –"

Then the other sister was there, a smile on her face. Her eyes were blue as well, but darker. More like the night sky than an ocean breeze.

"We'd love a hand."

She ignored the protests from the brother and held out her hand.

"I'm Mirajane and this is my sister Lisanna and my brother Elfman."

"Bixlow," he said, accepting her hand. His eyes flicked back to the younger one – Lisanna. Pretty name.

"Do you live around here?"

He jerked his thumb over his shoulder towards his apartment complex. "Yeah, down the block. My roommate kicked me out for the day."

"Well, that's too bad. How about you grab a box and follow us upstairs?"

She led the way, followed by Elfman who had two boxes piled in his arms and a glare on his face. Lisanna hovered next to him, a small smile curling her lips.

"Nice tattoo," she said, waiting for him to grab a box.

"Thanks."

"Did it hurt?"

"Like a bitch."

She laughed softly, and he grinned. He liked her laugh. He wanted to hear it again.

"So, are you from out of town?" he asked as they headed into the building and up the stairs. She had to walk in front of him, the stairway not big enough for two people, but he didn't mind. She had a great ass.

"Sort of," she answered, shooting a look over her shoulder that said she knew where he was staring. The glint in her eyes told him that she didn't mind though, and he smirked. "Mira and Elfman are just moving from a different part of the city. I was traveling around the last couple of years." He followed her through a door and put the box where directed.

"I visited most of Europe and parts of Asia," she continued as they headed back down the stairs. "Even stopped in Australia for a week. That was fun. The spiders there are _huge_."

Bixlow laughed and she grinned at him.

"Was there a reason for the adventure?"

"Not really." She shrugged and grabbed another box. "Just felt like going."

He followed her back upstairs and she continued talking about her adventure. He was barely aware of the other siblings, in fact they might've left … he wasn't sure and he didn't care. By the time she was telling him about when she got challenged to a drinking contest in Ireland and somehow managed to win, the truck was out of boxes and hours had passed.

"I should really get going," he said, although he really didn't want to. Mirajane and Elfman had taken the truck back and Bixlow found himself alone with Lisanna, unpacking the kitchen.

She paused with a plate in her hands and turned to face him.

"I suppose you should." She drew her lip between her teeth, twisting the plate between her hands. "Thanks for the help, and thanks for not turning out to be a crazy murderer."

He barked a laugh. "Is that what you thought?"

"Well … the tattoo is a bit unusual, and people don't just offer to help anymore."

He shook his head, a smile tugging at his lips and she grinned back. For a moment they just stood there and said nothing, just stared into each other's eyes. Then he shook his head again and stepped towards the door.

"I've got to go."

"You already said that," she murmured, but she didn't move to stop him as he shuffled towards the door.

He wanted to see her again; he wanted to see a lot more of her. He just didn't know how to go about making that happen …

"Um, so it's been a couple of years since I've been here," she started, and he glanced back at her, hope flaring in his stomach. She licked her lips and smiled. "Would you be willing to show me around town?"

_Hell yes!_

He wanted to jump for joy, but instead he just smiled.

"Definitely."

They exchanged numbers and parted with promises to contact each other, and Bixlow managed to stay in control until he got to the street. By then he could barely contain it any longer and he whooped, throwing his arms in the air and dancing.

And when he realized the woman across the street was staring at him he just laughed louder and headed towards his own apartment.


	2. still with feet touching

**Notes:** So, this was gonna be a two-shot and then I got an idea for one more little bit, which means it'll actually be a three-shot (is that a thing?).

I've rewritten this approximately 3 times already so I'm just going to give up now and hope it's not awful. Sorry for the lateness of the update.

* * *

_still with feet touching_

…

It had been a month since Lisanna had returned to Magnolia, and everything was going great. Her friends had welcomed her back with open arms – and a few tears – and she'd even managed to secure a job at Fairy Tail, with help from Mira of course.

The only dark splotch in her life was Bixlow … or the lack thereof to be specific.

It wasn't like they weren't _trying_. They texted constantly and planned, but every single time something came up and the plans fell short. First it was a sudden illness, then it was an unexpected work shift, and on and on the excuses went. It was getting to the point where she was tempted to just go to his apartment, plans be damned. Unfortunately she didn't actually know where he lived, just the general area, and she had a feeling his neighbors wouldn't appreciate her knocking on their doors in search of him.

So she waited for his next text, hoping that this time things would go right.

She glanced down at her phone with a sigh. She'd texted him earlier, asking if he'd want to do something after she got off work, but he hadn't responded yet. She sighed again and shoved her phone in her pocket. She wasn't going to obsess over it. She wasn't.

Of course twenty minutes later she was checking her phone for the fifth time, unable to stop the sigh when she saw that there were no new messages.

As she was staring at the screen, the phone vibrated in her hand and she almost dropped it in surprise.

_A smile suits you better_.

Her brow furrowed and she glanced up from her phone with a frown, but when she saw Bixlow at the door the frown melted into a smile. He grinned back and all she could think was, _damn he's beautiful_.

Then he was cutting through the crowd and her heart skipped a beat. He didn't even seem to notice the appreciative glances from the women that watched him walk by, his eyes attention focused solely on Lisanna.

She ignored the way that made her chest ache.

"You never responded to my text," she said when he was close enough to hear her. He laughed and leaned against the bar, his lips curling with a smirk.

"Decided I'd respond in person."

She dipped her head to hide her smile and glanced at him from beneath her bangs. "Well I hope you didn't come all the way here to reject me, because that would just be mean."

Before he could respond there was a woman at his side, her arm thrown over his shoulders as she leaned against him. Lisanna blinked in surprise and the woman watched her with a cool stare.

"Buy me a drink, Bixlow," she said, although it was more of a command. "I wanna get drunk."

Bixlow laughed and rolled his eyes. "Getting drunk won't solve your problems." When she just glared up at him he laughed again and glanced at Lisanna. "Can I get an appletini for the lady?"

Lisanna quickly mixed the drink and had barely set it on the bar before it was gone.

"You're Lisanna." the woman said, eyeing her. It wasn't a question so Lisanna didn't bother answering, just stared back.

"And you're Evergreen."

They kept staring, Bixlow looking between them with a raised brow, until finally Evergreen dipped her head, a small smile curling the corners of her mouth.

"Not bad." Then she turned to gaze out at the crowd and Lisanna glanced at Bixlow. He lifted his shoulder in a shrug and she breathed a laugh.

_I guess I've been approved_.

"So, about what we were talking about before we were so rudely interrupted," Bixlow said, shooting an annoyed glare at Evergreen. There was no heat in it though, and she just shoved his shoulder lightly, not even looking away from her hunt. He turned his attention back to Lisanna and smiled. "We should totally do something when you get off."

She licked her lips and tried to ignore the way her heart thrummed in her chest. "Any ideas?"

He tapped his chin thoughtfully and she moved down the bar to help a couple of customers that had appeared. When she got back to him he was still thinking but Evergreen had turned around and was watching her.

"If you leave it up to him he's going to say something stupid like video games," she said. "Just a warning."

"I like video games."

Bixlow's face brightened and he grinned. "Then how about that? You can come over to my place and we can play whatever you want."

Lisanna laughed when Evergreen groaned, but she nodded. "That sounds great."

"Pathetic," Evergreen muttered and Lisanna pressed her lips together to keep from laughing again.

"Y'know," Lisanna started. "I couldn't help but notice you were here alone …" She trailed off and Evergreen's lip curled with annoyance.

"That asshole actually thought he could cheat on me without me finding out. And when I did he tried to get me to have a threesome! Can you believe that?" She snarled and Lisanna poured her a shot of vodka. Evergreen tossed it back and slammed the glass back on the bar with a glare.

Suddenly she sat up straighter and tossed her hair over her shoulder, and a second later Elfman was at the bar. He barely glanced at Bixlow at Evergreen, his attention on Lisanna.

"Mira told me to tell you she probably won't be coming home tonight," he said.

"Well, I might not be either." She nodded towards the two at the bar. "You remember Bixlow, and this is Evergreen. I'm going to hang out with them after work."

Bixlow's eyebrows inched up but she shook her head. She wasn't in the mood to clean his blood off the floor and with the way Elfman's eyes narrowed when he saw Bixlow, she knew there would be blood if he had any inkling that they would be alone.

"Hey bro," Bixlow said, nodding. Elfman snarled and Lisanna sighed.

"Don't start anything," she snapped. Elfman shifted, but thankfully he didn't lunge at Bixlow like she could tell he wanted to. She loved her brother, but he needed to let her date who she wanted to. Not that she was dating Bixlow … at least not yet.

A slight flush covered her cheeks and she shook her head, only then noticing that Evergreen had gone silent. She was staring at Elfman with wide eyes and Lisanna blinked in surprise. She glanced at Bixlow who looked between the two with a wicked glint to his eyes and Lisanna had to press her lips together when he lightly shoved Evergreen's shoulder, sending her sprawling into Elfman. The two flushed and Bixlow grinned.

"Whoa Ever, you gotta be careful. I think you've had a little too much to drink."

"What? No I'm fine," she said, pushing away from Elfman a little too forcefully and stumbling. He reached out to catch her arm and she flushed darker.

"I don't know," Lisanna said, tapping her chin. "You're looking a little pink there. Elfman, why don't you take her to your table and let her rest there for a bit."

"I'm fine," Evergreen repeated, but Bixlow shook his head.

"Maybe she should dance it off," he suggested and she glared at the two of them. Poor Elfman just looked confused.

"It'd be a big favor for me if you helped her out," Lisanna said, fluttering her lashes at Elfman, and as usual that was all it took. He grunted and led Evergreen away from the bar with surprisingly little objection from her.

Once they were out of sight Bixlow erupted in laughter, falling against the bar as his shoulders shook.

"I thought Evergreen was going to blow a fuse," he said after he managed to collect himself, although a few chuckles still slipped through. "I don't think I've ever seen her face that red before." He wiped at his eyes and shook his head. "I almost feel bad for Elfman."

Lisanna tapped her chin thoughtfully, looking through the crowd at where they were seated. "I don't know … I think they make a cute pair." Bixlow barked a laugh and she glanced at him. "He'll be good for her."

Then her phone beeped and she glanced at it. "Oh, time to go." She looked back at Bixlow with a smile. "I'll be right back. Wait here?"

He plopped onto one of the stools and she stared for a heartbeat longer before turning and scurrying out from behind the bar. She had to wind her way through the crowd and it took her longer than she would've liked to get to the back and clock out. She passed by Laxus on her way back to the front and paused long enough to tell him she was leaving, he just waved her away not even looking up from his paperwork and she smiled, ducking back into the crowd.

Bixlow was where she'd left him, tapping his fingers against the bar. When he saw her he grinned and slid off the stool, holding his arm out for her. She took it and together they moved through the crowd and out the door.

The air outside was cold compared to inside and she shivered under her light jacket. Summer was beginning to shift into autumn and the wind was crisp.

"You okay with walking?" Bixlow asked.

"Yeah," Lisanna murmured, her eyes shifted from the sky to Bixlow. She smiled. "It's a beautiful night."

"That it is," he agreed, and she had a feeling he wasn't just talking about the night. Warmth gathered in her cheeks and she ducked her head.

It wasn't a long walk and Lisanna learned that Bixlow only lived five minutes away from her. He led her up to his apartment and she felt nerves gather in her stomach like a swarm of butterflies. She hung out alone with guys all the time, just last week she'd gone over to Natsu's for an impromptu movie marathon, but this … this was different.

She glanced at Bixlow as she slipped her shoes off. He seemed to be unaffected by whatever it was that was getting to her. He bounded down the hall and she followed after him at a much slower pace. Pictures dotted the walls and she paused at one of them, smiling softly. Bixlow stood behind Evergreen, his arm thrown over her shoulders, and his smile blinding. Next to him stood Laxus and even he had a smile on his face. The man next to Laxus with the long green hair had to be Freed, the roommate she hadn't met yet. They all looked young and happy and she wondered what the story behind the picture was.

"Are ya coming in or not?" Bixlow called and she shook her head, hurrying down the hall. She stepped into the living room and her eyes widened at the set up.

"Who needs a TV that big?" she breathed, stepping further into the room. The TV had to be at least 60 inches and it was surrounded by speakers. The wall next to it was covered by DVDs and games and she shook her head.

"Impressive I know," Bixlow said, smirking. He motioned towards the large collection of games. "Your choice."

She moved closer so she could see the titles and ignored the warmth that she could feel coming off of Bixlow.

"How about this one?" she said, tugging it off the shelf. He glanced at the game with a grin and took it from her.

"Good choice." He turned towards the media center. "Get comfy on the couch, this is gonna be a long game."

She chuckled and sat on the couch, curling her legs under her. After he got it all set up he joined her and handed her a controller and then the game began. She'd never really been a very competitive person, but she had to admit there was a certain joy to wiping the floor with Bixlow, especially when he snarled and demanded they do a rematch.

After he beat her the second time they decided to switch games. He ignored her warning that she was no good at first person shooters, but with him telling her what to she managed to make it through the level without dying more than twice. Although she had accidentally shot Bixlow's character more than once, thankfully there was no friendly fire.

She didn't know how much time had passed, it only felt like minutes but it could've been hours and she started when she realized that sometime during their playing they'd slid off the couch and were sitting close. Bixlow's warmth seeped into her side from where he was practically pressed against her and she felt a flush crawl up her cheeks when she felt his foot brush hers.

An explosion on screen had her jumping and her eyes widened at the fiery carnage she saw.

"Oops," she breathed, glancing at Bixlow with a smile. "My bad."

"Completely your fault," he said, turning to look at her. His eyes widened when he realized how close she was and she didn't miss the way they flicked her mouth and away. He licked his lips and cleared his throat. "You—uh, you owe me a drink now."

"Okay," she murmured, her own eyes dropping to his mouth. He was so close she could practically taste him already.

Only inches separated them. All she had to do was lean forward …

"Men!" She nearly leapt out of her skin when the door slammed against the wall and she scrambled backwards. Bixlow groaned and dropped his head to the floor, not even bothering to look up when Evergreen stormed past. "Men are the _worst_. The absolute worst!" Another door slammed and Lisanna glanced at Bixlow, licking her lips. He was staring up at her and when he saw her looking he gave her a humorless smile.

"Well that moment is totally ruined," he grumbled and she released a shaky breath.

"Yeah," she agreed, shifting slightly. "Yeah." Then she shook herself and got to her feet, her hand brushing against Bixlow's back as she rose.

"I'll go make sure she's okay," she murmured, shooting Bixlow a final smile. Then she turned and headed down the hall, pressing her hands against her cheeks.

They were still warm.


End file.
